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rainbowgardener
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rainbow gardener's 2017 gardens

I had a thread going about spring planting, but I'm well past that, so I thought I would do a general garden progress thread.

For comparison, here's some pics from April 11:

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Now two weeks later:

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rainbowgardener
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It wouldn't let me put too many pix in one post, so here's a little more

tomatoes:
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pea pods
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strawberries
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I love spring!

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applestar
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Image
Your garden is looking GREAT! :D -- more like how my garden might look in early to mid-June. It must be lovely to get started so early. I guess you are finding out how your garden grows in each season.

... Now is that you or J looking so FIT and HEALTHY? I have discovered I have to get the winter sloth out of MY system after working on getting the bigger beds prepped. :roll:

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rainbowgardener
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Thanks for all the kind words! :)

That is Jamie! I never post pictures of me... I'm unfortunately rounder :( If you click to enlarge, you can see her beautiful tattoo with the hummingbird and trumpet creeper vine enclosing a peace symbol. Original design. I put her in there just to show how tall everything is...

Yes, I am loving it. Everything grows so fast this time of year. Some of the tomato plants are about to the top of the cage and have tomatoes on it. In Cincinnati, I would have just been putting my 1 to 1.5 foot tall transplants in the ground about now..

And yes, still learning about the seasons here and what to plant when. Because I had a bunch of the beds built, I did better about getting cold weather stuff in sooner. Last year (my first growing season here) I was still building when I should have been planting.

Yes everything is SO beautiful right now. Somewhere else I will plant some of the flower pix!

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rainbowgardener
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One thing I could use to do better is succession planting. I have given away a gallon bag stuffed full of lettuce to the neighbors on both sides and still have more than I can use. And it is getting ready to bolt. It would have been better to plant less of it and then plant it again a few weeks later. But then you have to really know the timing, how early can I start it and how late is too late. Everything except the tomatoes and peppers was direct seeded in the ground. I'm don't really have the timing down that well yet. So we are just eating with the season. Tons of greens now, lettuce, chard, spinach. So we are eating and cooking up as much of it as we can. Then it will be done, (even the chard is now getting ready to bolt soon), but we will have tons of broccoli. And so on.

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rainbowgardener
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The corn was growing fast, but looking a little wimpy-- not the dark green and vibrant it should be. Everyone always says corn is a heavy feeder and I put this batch back in the same spot it was last year. I don't usually fertilize, just compost and mulch, but I decided these probably needed a little help. So I fed them all some fish meal. Three days later and after a rain, they look better already.

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applestar
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Whoo! Looks like you're gonna be getting some rain now (or soon)! Hope everything's battened down.
Good luck!

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Gary350
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Your garden is looking very good, better than mine. I have, broccoli, kale, napa, onions, garlic, chard, 6 kinds of lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, all doing good. It is still raining here I planted a lot of seeds before we left for a week vacation at the ocean only thing that germinated was about 25% of the corn seeds. I don't do raised beds but they could be a big advantage getting things to grow with 2" of water in the garden.

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rainbowgardener
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So a little more than two weeks later, here's an update (everything is shadowy because it was late afternoon)

overview
garden overview.jpg
cabbages (with garlic and carrots)
cabbage.jpg
corn and carrots
corn and carrots.jpg
lettuce, tomato,broccoli (with onions and garlic and peas and one very tall parsley in flower)
lettuce tomato broccoli.jpg
tomatoes
tomatoes.jpg
Last edited by rainbowgardener on Thu May 11, 2017 3:19 am, edited 3 times in total.

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rainbowgardener
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few more

peas and chard (the infamous chard row that has now had about 150 large leaves picked from it in the past month)
there's broccoli behind the chard,but not visible in the picture
peas and chard.jpg
strawberries
strawberries.jpg


potato patch (that I transplanted some broccoli into that was too crowded where it started)
potato patch.jpg
and because woman does not live by veggies alone
flowers on deck.jpg
These pots look ornamental but are almost all herbs.

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rainbowgardener
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Just for fun, I made this progression. It's the bed with cabbages in it, Apr 11, Apr 26, and May 10:
cabbage progression.jpg
you can see it better if you click to enlarge

It's just amazing how fast things grow here!

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Looking Good!

Taiji
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Your garden looks great! Looks like you have a handle on your new location and climate. I don't see anything that even looks like pest damage or disease issues. :)

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rainbowgardener
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Taiji wrote:Your garden looks great! Looks like you have a handle on your new location and climate. I don't see anything that even looks like pest damage or disease issues. :)
Well until a week or two ago, I was living in gardener's paradise. Long cool wet spring (so different from last year!), everything growing like crazy and everything perfect with no sign of diseases or pests and not even any mosquitoes. But of course it wasn't going to stay like that forever!

So mosquitoes have arrived (not in nearly as big numbers as they will be later in the summer), broccoli and spinach leaves are showing holes from slugs, and one tomato plant is getting septoria on the bottom leaves... Time to start defending my garden and working for my veggies! :)

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rainbowgardener
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I should take some more update photos-- you won't believe the changes. But in the meantime:

first ripe tomato.jpg
Today's harvest. First ripe tomato! In Cincinnati, I had to work really hard to get a ripe tomato by the end of June (start indoors very early, plant in the garden as early as possible and then cover when it would get too cold). Here's one a little more than a month earlier! That is my third harvest of peas (last one was twice as much). There will be a little more and then they will be done.

I love the South! :)

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applestar
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Beautiful harvest! Enjoy your yummies!
(I got some greens today and beginning of fruits trickling in....)

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pinksand
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Love it! Your gardens have come together so nicely and everything looks so healthy!

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rainbowgardener
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So, it's been about three weeks; here's some update:

corn has tassels and silks:
IMG_1754.JPG
Tomato plants have lots of tomatoes:
IMG_1756.JPG
IMG_1755.JPG
Everything is huge and growing like crazy:
IMG_1758.JPG
IMG_1759.JPG
In what will be the middle of the circle are two volunteer sunflowers, because a bird feeder used to be there.

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rainbowgardener
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applestar
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Yay! And it's not even middle of June!

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rainbowgardener
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My first ripe tomato I posted was May 24! I've been getting a few tomatoes since, but one here and there. Today I discovered all five of those well blushed on one plant (Better Boy). They range from 8 oz to 16 (!) oz.

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RBG - I am so happy for you. Your Garden boxes are beautiful.

The South unfortunately has an undeserved bad reputation. I am so please that you are enjoying the milder climate. I hope that your overall experience is as good as your gardening experience.

I am looking forward to more post and photos of your garden and landscape progress. :-()

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That is a great harvest. Even though you get a later start than I do, you veggies are a lot bigger in a short time. I think your early indoor starts and longer days help a lot with that.

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rainbowgardener
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So it is summer solstice and I am pulling some of the spring things and planting for summer. Pulled the garden peas, some of the broccoli and some cabbage (a big beautiful cabbage head, outer leaves full of holes, but inside was fine). Planting beans and squash.

Corn is like 8 feet tall and some ears will be ready for harvest soon! Harvested a few potatoes and a jalapeno pepper today (I've had bell peppers for awhile).

Taiji
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Your garden is looking fabulous! Love the tomatoes; none here yet, but there is some fruit set. Is your corn Ambrosia?

I was wondering if in your new area, that you might have 2 full growing seasons. I mean, for instance with something like beans of course, one can plant 2 crops probably in the same season, but what about the longer season stuff? Like, plant and harvest a corn crop, then plant another? A second winter squash crop? Is there enough time?

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rainbowgardener
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I should post a few more pix. The corn pictured is Silver Queen. I will be harvesting from it soon.

I have already planted a new batch of corn. It's a number of weeks behind, because I was waiting to finish building the garden bed it is in. But It is six - eight inches high or so. It is a bicolor. When that batch gets a little bigger, I will plant a third batch, though I'm not sure right now where it will go. Possibly right back where the Silver Queen is now, if I can replenish the soil well. I did three plantings of corn last year. If I stay on top of it, I might even get four in.... but that is not waiting until one batch is harvested to plant the next.

You can always do succession plantings. They say plant peas and beans every two weeks to keep harvest coming. I've never done that with peas, because their season is so short, before it gets too hot for them.
tomatoes.jpg
That's not all that's been harvested, because we keep eating them. Had tomatoes in the stir fry last night and I had a whole fresh tomato with my lunch sandwich today. :D

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ElizabethB
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RBG - your gardens and produce are wonderful. It sounds like you are really having fun with your garden in your new climate. Have you checked with your TN/GA Ag Centers for planting guides to help with succession planting? Excess veggies that can not be dried, canned or frozen can be sold at your local Farmer's Market, donated to a local soup kitchen, donated to needy families associated with your church. St. Joe's Diner is my local soup kitchen and they are ALWAYS so appreciative of fresh produce. They don't get that very often.

Jamie's tattoo is beautiful. Did you design it or did she? Very nice.

:oops: Sorry. You really did not ask for my 2 cents.

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rainbowgardener
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Jamie designed it and I do think it is beautiful....

I really don't have enough excess to sell or even give more than a little bit to friends. I am canning and freezing and drying....

Our next door neighbors just bought their house and moved in a little less than a year ago, having moved here from Alaska. They decided (mostly I think the wife decided, I hardly ever saw her set foot outside her door except to go to work) they missed Alaska, so they have sold the house and are moving back. I am benefitting from this. They sold us their 20 cu ft upright freezer very cheap, and gave us six beautiful plant containers that are terra cotta with multi colored ceramic glazes on the outside and a bag of
manure and one of potting soil. Stuff they decided not to haul back to Alaska.

The hardest part of trying to be more self-sufficient is winter. Here I can, once I get the hang of it, grow some things year around. But still the pickings will be slimmer than now in the bounty of summer. So I am working on putting by everything I can.

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rainbowgardener
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I now have bean plants sprouting a couple places where I pulled cabbage and broccoli .

The second planting of corn is knee high. So I cleared out one of the potato patches. Those potatoes had a really bad attack of flea beetles and I think the beetles must have brought some disease. So they up and died. I did harvest about 20 potatoes from that 4x4 patch, but they ranged from golf ball, to medium sized potatoes. If the plants hadn't died prematurely, I'm sure they would have gotten bigger. Anyway, I turned the ground and added compost and I will put the third planting of corn there.

I know applestar has all her amazing charts of planting rotations and what goes where when and which things follow each other. I don't know how to do that. My garden seems much more unpredictable and opportunistic. I had no plan to put corn there, but since the potatoes died early ...

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LOL I'm bumbling along, too, you know. But according to my charts, grass/grains (=corn) is a good choice for following solanacea. :wink: ...oh wait... I have that backwards -- solanacea follows grains/grass. :oops:

I think you might try the fall potato planting. You might be able to pull it off and have new potatoes by the time you harvest peas. Do you remember that article I posted a link for? I can find it, I think.

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Hehe I think I keep posting the link because I'm hoping people will try it. I'd love to try, but I don't know that I could pull it off here, even though I DO very rarely have volunteer potatoes spring up.....

It sounds like it was successful for Gary350

Subject: What happened to the Thread, growing winter potatoes?
applestar wrote:This one -- right?

Subject: What to do during the winter months...
Gary350 wrote:
applestar wrote:I'm SO glad you posted that link. I immediately recognized the header design as the website where I saw an article on planting potatoes in the fall for spring harvest. I wrote about it and posted the link here ages ago and have mentioned it several times since then, always apologizing that I could not find the link again. Yep, there it was, and here it is :D

https://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/artic ... potato.htm
I planted potatoes once in the fall just as an experiment because I have so much trouble with trying to grow potatoes in TN in spring. I cut my potatoes into pieces with about 2 or 3 eyes and let them dry 2 days. I set the cut pieces on the soil surface 12" apart in a 25' row. I shoveled soil from each side covering the potatoes with about 2" of soil. As the tops grew taller and taller I shoveled more soil from the sides to cover the plants until seed potatoes were covered with 8" of soil. I covered the hill with straw, tops barley poked through the straw when we had a early frost and early cold winter. The potatoes never grew any more tops all winter. Spring came I kept waiting for tops to grow but none grew. I planted tomatoes in April, mid May soil was warm enough to plant the rest of the garden and still potatoes were doing nothing. Potatoes were in my way of planting the garden so they needed to be gone. I was very surprised to find a good crop of potatoes just waiting to be dug up. I posted that on this forum about 10 years ago. I will remember to try this again next season.

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rainbowgardener
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Thanks! I have a second 4x4 plot of potatoes that is still hanging in there and volunteer potatoes that have popped up a bunch of places. The volunteers are actually doing the best! :)

When I get around to thinking about fall planting, I will definitely try to include some more potatoes!

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rainbowgardener
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You want to see how fast things grow around here?

Here's one garden bed with my second planting of corn on 6/27:
IMG_1789.JPG
Here is the same bed FIVE DAYS later on 6/2:
July 2 corn.jpg
That corn has been growing more than an inch a day, maybe almost two inches! (Squash is growing fast too!)

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rainbowgardener
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So that little patch of corn (second planting) is now tasseling. It's a bicolor and doesn't get as tall as the Silver Queen.

Today I finally finished getting the next corn patch ready. It is a 10x4 bed that had broccoli and potatoes. So I pulled the last broccoli and dug the last potatoes. Turned the old mulch under. Laid down some compost and turned that under, loosening the soil. Planted 40 corn seeds, 1/ sq ft.

I'm used to doing things on such a micro scale where I was before. That is the biggest corn patch I have ever planted all at once! :)

Should be enough to eat and to freeze!

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ElizabethB
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RBG - you can plant tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper plants now for fall harvest. Start seeding your greens - lettuce, chard, spinach, mustard - now.

Something I learned about tomatoes is to pinch whatever suckers you may have or any cuttings and root them in pots for fall plants. They root easily and quickly. Takes a lot less time to get them started than starting from seed then transplanting. :-()

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ElizabethB
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I thought you may find this helpful. The Planting guides are comprehensive and should help with your crop rotation. :o

https://extension.tennessee.edu/publica ... /PB901.pdf

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Gary350
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rainbowgardener wrote:few more

Image

.
Your swiss chard looks good. I planted 3 kinds of chard 3 different times in spring the green came up, a few rainbow came up, not many red came up. Red and Rainbow are the ones I like. The 3 years I lives in Arizona I planted chard from seed in November it all came up and grew fast as weeds 70 degree days and 40 deg nights all winter was perfect for them. I need to be plants chard seeds in pots soon I want some for fall and winter. I see you have Russian Red Kale too, nice.

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KitchenGardener
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ElizabethB wrote:
Something I learned about tomatoes is to pinch whatever suckers you may have or any cuttings and root them in pots for fall plants. They root easily and quickly. Takes a lot less time to get them started than starting from seed then transplanting. :-()
Brilliant! TY

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rainbowgardener
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Image

(Click to enlarge). If you do, you can see ears on the corn. This is my second planting of corn. The squash is acorn squash. The leaves aren't really wilted, they were just a little battered from rain. If you scroll up towards the top of this page, you will see this same bed with the corn on 6/28 and 7/2. Big difference!!

Image

That is actually a cluster of four acorn squashes.

Image

The sunflower plant was a volunteer from the bird seed. :)

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applestar
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The corn and squash in particular look fabulous. It's almost funny how they are making your 1/4 circle bed look small.....

But that also means you definitely have more room to grow now. :-()

...what a monster Sunflower...



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